Ten Things You Should Know About Friday’s UC Davis Police Violence

1. The protest at which UC Davis police officers used pepper spray and batons against unresisting demonstrators was an entirely nonviolent one.

None of the arrests at UC Davis in the current wave of activism have been for violent offenses. Indeed, as the New York Times reported this morning, the university’s administration has “reported no instances of violence by any protesters.” Not one.

2. The unauthorized tent encampment was dismantled before the pepper spraying began.

Students had set up tents on campus on Thursday, and the administration had allowed them to stay up overnight. When campus police ordered students to take the tents down on Friday afternoon, however, most complied. The remainder of the tents were quickly removed by police without incident before the pepper spray incident.

3. Students did not restrict the movement of police at any time during the demonstration.

After police made a handful of arrests in the course of taking down the students’ tents, some of the remaining demonstrators formed a wide seated circle around the officers and arrestees.

UC Davis police chief Annette Spicuzza has claimed that officers were unable to leave that circle: “There was no way out,” she told the Sacramento Bee. “They were cutting the officers off from their support. It’s a very volatile situation.” But multiple videos clearly show that the seated students made no effort to impede the officers’ movement. Indeed, Lt. Pike, who initiated the pepper spraying of the group, was inside the circle moments earlier. To position himself to spray, he simply stepped over the line.

4. Lt. Pike was not in fear for his safety when he sprayed the students.

Chief Spicuzza told reporters on Thursday that her officers had been concerned for their safety when they began spraying. But again, multiple videos show this claim to be groundless.

The pat on the back occurs just two minutes and nineteen seconds before Pike pepper sprayed the student he had just been chatting with and all of his friends.

5. University of California Police are not authorized to use pepper spray except in circumstances in which it is necessary to prevent physical injury to themselves or others.

From the University of California’s Universitywide Police Policies and Administrative Procedures: “Chemical agents are weapons used to minimize the potential for injury to officers, offenders, or other persons. They should only be used in situations where such force reasonably appears justified and necessary.”

6. UC police are not authorized to use physical force except to control violent offenders or keep suspects from escaping.

Another quote from the UC’s policing policy: “Arrestees and suspects shall be treated in a humane manner … they shall not be subject to physical force except as required to subdue violence or ensure detention. No officer shall strike an arrestee or suspect except in self-defense, to prevent an escape, or to prevent injury to another person.”

7. The UC Davis Police made no effort to remove the student demonstrators from the walkway peacefully before using pepper spray against them.

One video of the pepper-spray incident shows a group of officers moving in to remove the students from the walkway. Just as one of them reaches down to pick up a female student who was leaning against a friend, however, Lt. Pike waves the group back, clearing a space for him to use pepper spray without risk of accidentally spraying his colleagues.

8. Use of pepper spray and other physical force continued after the students’ minimal obstruction of the area around the police ended.

The line of seated students had begun to break up no more than eight seconds after Lt. Pike began spraying. The spraying continued, however, and officers soon began using batons and other physical force against the now-incapacitated group.

9. Even after police began using unprovoked and unlawful violence against the students, they remained peaceful.

Multiple videos show the aftermath of the initial pepper spraying and the physical violence that followed. In none of them do any of the assaulted students or any of the onlookers strike any of the officers who are attacking them and their friends.

10. The students’ commitment to nonviolence extended to their use of language.

At one point on Thursday afternoon, before the police attack on the demonstration, a few activists started a chant of “From Davis to Greece, fuck the police.” They were quickly hushed by fellow demonstrators who urged them to “keep it nonviolent! Keep it peaceful!”

Their chant was replaced by one of “you use weapons, we use our voice.”

Six and a half minutes later, the entire group was pepper sprayed.

Monday Update | One of the most common criticisms of this post in comments has been the claim that because the UC Davis protesters encircled police in an attempt to (at least symbolically) prevent the arrest of their fellow students, their protest cannot be considered nonviolent. I’ve addressed this question in a followup post this morning.

They are students, who PAID to go to that college. In no sense are they ‘vagrants’. That isn’t a catchall ‘can arrest anyone standing still by just calling them a vagrant’ law. There is actual criteria for it. They were likely prepared to be arrested and detained. The ones who were carted away to be charged put up no resistance at all, they merely didn’t help. There was NO reason to pepper spray them. ‘Activist crap’, yeah, how Unamerican is that? I mean, not like the Founders ever did ridiculous things like picket, or riot, or destroy private property, or wrote the right into our Constitution, or anything….

WTFB – I think you’re very confused about the nature of protest. When people protest with civil disobedience (non-violently), including sitting quietly in violation of civic traffic ordinances, appropriate responses include arrests and fines (as you say), or just letting them be. However, it’s grossly inappropriate to respond to non-violent acts with overt violence, like pepper spraying and beatings. That’s akin to the firehouse/dogs tactics that were widely condemned in the 1960s. No one in the protest movement has ever said that protesters were NOT breaking local ordinances, the question is whether enforcing them in this situation makes sense (as the ordinances are generally in place to prevent crime and maintain property values), since the protesters have been peaceful, are attempting to be clean, are not “vagrants” in the traditional sense (most have homes), and are calling attention to very real economic concerns. If trespassing laws are enforced, then whether using force is appropriate when the protesters are blatantly non-violent is then next question to ask. When we take a Syrian strategy and use violence against non-violent protesters, we are sending a clear signal that only violent protest will be taken seriously – and that is NOT a signal that anyone in American wants to send. I would much rather have large groups blocking sidewalks and forcing me to take an alternate route than a bloody uprising!

UC Davis police chief Annette Spicuzza is very simply lying, or serving as a mouthpiece for lying officers under her command. At no time were her police force under any kind of actual or implied threat. So again, she is either lying herself while in possession of the actual facts, or else she has been lied to by people in her employ. Either way, she is unfit to serve and should be removed from her position of authority.

A clarification on point 7; I was not there, but in watching videos of the incident, the officers who attempted to grab the arm of the student and were waved off by Pike were all from the City of Davis Police Department. Pike and his colleagues are members of the UC Davis campus police. It’s difficult to tell them apart because of the color of their uniforms are similar, but you can tell from their shoulder patches.

a few activists started a chant of “From Davis to Greece, fuck the police.” They were quickly hushed by fellow demonstrators who urged them to “keep it nonviolent! Keep it peaceful!”

It’s sad that there’s a large contingent in these protests that thinks yelling at police after they torture you is “violent.” I have been working as a medical volunteer, and recall being lectured by an otherwise intelligent young woman for using my outdoor voice while attempting to stop a mob from encouraging the mentally ill to beat one another at OSF. She actually believed that taking people aside and yelling, “DOES THIS REALLY LOOK LIKE A GOOD IDEA TO YOU?” was “just as bad” as trying to start a fight!

You know who else would like you to think that being angry and loud is a form of violence? The cops. So, nice Stockholm Syndrome there. The ‘good’ news is that every gassing and every beating is a lesson to these people, who are gradually learning that the police aren’t their friends – I just wish they didn’t have to risk injury to figure that out.

From being there, the circle of students WAS impeding the officers. They were removing arrested individuals, and would have bene unable to move them over the protestors without injuring (or potentially injuring) someone. Pike (I believe) asked people to move so that they could facilitate the removal of arrested individuals, and warned (as I could hear) that they would be pepper sprayed if they failed to create a hole. They failed to follow a lawful order to avoid the potential for injury (and as such a lawsuit), and the officer followed through.

Also, 10 cops being loosely encircled by hundreds of people definitely makes the situation a little less calm for the officers. I don’t like what they did, but with the manpower available, there wasn’t much more to do in that situation than they could have.

This situation was MUCH more complicated than this article makes it seem.

I believe these weren’t UC Davis police, they were Davis City police called in by Katehi.

I was also there, and as marco-man said, the situation was much more complicated than the article makes it seem, though I in no way think it warranted the actions that were taken. The crowd was cooperating and making way for the police officers to remove arrested individuals, and pepper spray was completely uncalled for imo.

“Also, 10 cops being loosely encircled by hundreds of people definitely makes the situation a little less calm for the officers. I don’t like what they did, but with the manpower available, there wasn’t much more to do in that situation than they could have.”

What makes you believe that anything should have been done? The police did not have to become encircled by hundreds of people, or take any other action. This was a nonviolent protest, in a public space designed to contain hundreds of people (or more!) You say you don’t like what happened and aren’t excusing the police – so why bring it up?

I was there from the beginning to the end on Friday and marco-man’s comments are disingenuous, to say the least.

I was one of the first people to see the police arrive on campus in a convoy of marked and unmarked vehicles, already fully kitted out in riot gear. I watched as they assembled just out of sight of the quad before I notified the small group of protesters in the camp that they were about to be confronted by almost 40 riot cops. I videoed most of the events that followed and saw everything that happened very clearly.

My opinion is that the police arrived with every intention of engaging in a violent confrontation and were directed to do so at the behest of the university administration. This is evident in one video when shortly before Lt Pike commences pepper spraying he and a fellow officer are visibly communicating through their helmet mics, presumably with a directing agency. Only a few moments before this Lt Pike had exchanged civil words with a couple of the protesters. It is ludicrous then to make the assertion that the police felt trapped or threatened. Nobody in the crowd did anything but place their bodies peacefully in the way to prevent arbitrary arrests of three to four students. It is not inconceivable that the police and university authorities quickly realized they lacked the numbers to impose themselves on what became a sizable number of people who gathered on the quad. This may very well explain why they adopted the tactics that they did. But the behavior of the entire crowd was peaceful and non-confrontational throughout and there was absolutely nothing about the situation to warrant making wild and misleading claims that the crowd was intimidating. Quite the contrary in fact. I heard the chant of “fuck the police” – it was by one individual who walked right past me as he did so and it lasted two repetitions before it was hushed as students chanted “books not batons” and “you use violence we use our voices.”

I also want to add that the fact that a number of the officers had gray tape over their badges, presumably to conceal which UC campus they were based at, also leads me to suspect that a number of them were involved in the violence at Berkeley the week before (the officers involved were a grab-bag of UCD-PD, Davis City PD, and other UC system police). Plain clothes police also moved among the crowd videoing every student who was present. The overall impression I had was of a deliberately arranged confrontation by the police, on the orders of the university administration. When that did not happen, thanks entirely to the restraint of the student protesters, the police were evidently given instructions to assault them. There was no reason for this, no justification can possibly be given, and the comments of marco-man appear far too close to the official spin released by Chancellor Katehi’s office that one cannot help but view such comments as a deliberate and insidious attempt to disinform readers who were not present.

The facts, and thankfully there is abundant video evidence to show it, are that a group of idealistic and peaceful young people set up camp on open ground at a public university to protest at huge, looming tuition fee increases, and in solidarity with the Berkeley faculty and students who were brutalized by police the week before. These young people, with courage and fortitude persisted in an action of non-violent civil disobedience and without once threatening or intimating a threat to the riot police, these students were brutally assaulted. It is not complex. This is precisely what occurred. I know, because I witnessed it all.

These cops are at the bottom of a hierarchy that is under attack, and unfortunately for them they are the foot soldiers charged with defending the corrupt system. As we know from the previous week, the conference calls with Homeland Security gave the orders shut the occupations down. The cops on the scene had two options: Disobey orders and risk losing their jobs or shut the occupation down by any means possible. I am so damn glad I am not a cop in these times.

Those squatters thought they can taunt the authorities without repercussions and were proven wrong. Their tuition grants them access to education; not using the university’s private property as their little playground. The students clearly provoked the arrests themselves.

You Know something this event reminded me of the time that I observed the San Mateo Cops pepper spray some young children sitting with thier parents while blocking access to an abortion Mill. SO I guess peacefull protest canbe be a form of force. And if you are not ready to take your licks for the cause get off the line.

The police, even campus police, are clearly under the control of the 1% and are under orders to try to stamp out the Occupy Wall Street movement. The demands of the Occupy Wall Street movement need to include a demand to “Stop Persecuting Us.” Perhaps their 3 basic demands should be:

1. We demand a balanced distribution of wealth and will continue to Occupy Wall Street in all cities until this is actually accomplished (not just promised) — however long this may take.

2. We are angry because what should be a Government of, by and for the people is now a Government of, by and for the wealthy 1%. We will continue the Occupy Wall Street movement until the control of Government is removed from the wealthy 1% and returned to all of the people in a real democracy.

3. We demand our Freedom. No one is free when he is not allowed to assemble, discuss, and speak out for redress of these grievances. We demand that Government at all levels (National, State, City) stop persecuting us and instead start protecting our right to assemble and pursue justice — Government should provide help in this process.

“Those squatters thought they can taunt the authorities without repercussions and were proven wrong. Their tuition grants them access to education; not using the university’s private property as their little playground. The students clearly provoked the arrests themselves.”

ahahahahahaha

UC DAVIS is a public university. It’s public property, you cretinous bootlicker. Maybe you’re the one in need of education.

“These cops are at the bottom of a hierarchy that is under attack, and unfortunately for them they are the foot soldiers charged with defending the corrupt system. As we know from the previous week, the conference calls with Homeland Security gave the orders shut the occupations down. The cops on the scene had two options: Disobey orders and risk losing their jobs or shut the occupation down by any means possible. I am so damn glad I am not a cop in these times.”

That’s an interesting point, and even more interesting is that so many lives have been lost because “someone was only following orders” Isn’t that what Hitler based his regime on? The fact that his “followers” would follow his orders, regardless of the brutal and unethical outcome of those actions.

[…] as this police officer carelessly pepper-sprays a non-threatening group of protesters at UC Davis campus. That’s not right at all. The YouTube video description has more details, so if you care to […]

Well done. I am increasingly concerned about the militarization of our police, as our many in our community. Hopefully the bad PR that results from this, and several other recent incidents, resonates with fellow Occupiers that violence is not the solution – indeed when you fight them they can beat you. But when you don’t fight them, they end up beating themselves,

“The students clearly provoked the arrests themselves”.
Yes. and the police accusers have left big chunks out about how protesters were behaving.
Demonizing law enforcement is a strategy…you can figure that out for yourselves.

Um… Number seven is wrong. There’s videos out there that clearly show officer pike telling the protesters that if they don’t move. they will get pepper sprayed. So the cops did try to grt them to move using nonviolence. Just to clarify. :)

So, exactly why did the cops have to arrest these students at all? They’d already disassembled the tents. Why was it so important that a dozen student not sit in a path on the UC Davis campus? God forbid.

And all this so ten students could be charged with … unlawful assembly …

The crazy thing here is that I actually work for a bank on Wall Street. (I haven’t exactly been supporting the Occupy protesters.) But seeing this just pissed me off. It’s completely unacceptable. I agree that the chancellor should resign. I also think the police officers who used the pepper spray should be fired.

I’m watching this YouTube video right now which is a 8 minute slice taken by a student starting from when the students have already surrounded a small group of officers, then officers pepper-spray those blocking the walkway, to when the officers regroup and leave.

It doesn’t completely agree with the 10 Point listed above. Nor does it appear the officers are brutalizing protesters or acting out of anger. It looks like they are trying to clear a walkway with minimal force.

This might sound odd, but nowhere does it say you have a Constitutional right to block passage of your fellow man. Free speech has never promised you the ability to remove the rights of others.

One aspect of the 10 Things that is extremely questionable is the “peaceful” claim.

There are already death threats against one officer posted on the internet, and the officer’s phone number, email addy, and home address listed on the web, It appears the officer’s personal data is directly from the universities human resources database. That means it is students or staff posting the information in a direct effort to harm them.

Is this the new 2011 definition “peaceful” and “facts”?

I agree with removing the chancellor of UC Davis. If the personnel files of her employees are that insecure, then she is not managing her resources well.

And I agree with the student’s right to protest. But I can’t see where student protests should exempt them from behaving in a civil manner to others, regardless of whether they wear a badge or not.

[…] This blog is a must read before anyone writes that the students “deserved” it.. My right wing friends, you know who your are… So you don’t look too stupid later, read this before trying to write something witty….. […]

The former police officer who wrote the UC Davis “use of force” guidelines claims pepper spray and baton strikes are merely “compliance techniques.” By their reasoning, pepper spray complied with the Universitywide Police Policies.

That’s clearly contradicted by this 2002 decision from N. California’s US Ninth District Court of Appeals, which BANS the use of pepper spray against peaceful protesters conducting a sit-in and disobeying orders to leave:

The evidence reveals that the “nature and quality of the intrusion” caused by the pepper spray on the protesters’ bodily integrity under the Fourth Amendment was more than “minimal,” as the district court had concluded. Indeed, the pepper spray caused the protesters “immediate and searing pain”…which the officers could not instantly stop inflicting once the protesters agreed to release themselves from the “black bears”…. The protesters posed no safety threat to anyone. Their crime was trespass. The “black bear” lock-down devices they used meant that they could not “evade arrest by flight”…They were not “menacing” demonstrators seeking to intimidate the police or the public: most were young women; two were minors…. Alternatives were available.

The Mayor of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (the Honourable Robert Doyle) I would suggest (from a political perspective) would approve of the tactics of the UC Davis Police judging by what happened to the Occupy Melbourne peaceful protest group and his words about them were…how could one say…less than endearing, (fortunately some of his fellow honourable members thought his summing up of them was a disgrace as does the poster of this following blog).

for some people wondering how the students ended up in the way they were sitting, they never made a circle around the cops they where around there tents, which the cops ( and some students moved) you can see it at this video which i’m kinda amazed i haven’t seen around more often cus it gives you the feeling of what happened before the pepper spray

I think that the authorities were in the right to ask these people to move and when they did not move as directed they were in violation of the law, Therefore to keep it as nonviolent as possible the police used pepper spray to make them move. the authorities did what was necessary to enforce the law…

SCORE CARD: police – a few inappropriate actions; Occupy protesters – innumerable incidents of destruction of personal property, assaults, victimization of innocent people, trespassing, etc., etc. I would say that law enforcement is much more admirable by comparison.

[…] here’s a thing. We’ve already gotten to a bottom of a situation. We know what happened. UC Davis military used uncalled-for force on a organisation of pacific tyro demonstrators in defilem… That’s a story. That’s a situation. If a charge force reports that, they’ll be revelation us […]

Why are folk quoting the 9th Circuit “no-pepper-spray” decision? It doesn’t apply to all protests and all pepper spray use.

It has to do with whether someone can sue the community for the use pepper spray in a manner that is deemed as excessive force, which in this case, put directly into the protesters eyes with Q-tips, and sprayed at less that 3′ away, which the mfr of the spray warns against.

The 9th Circuit did not offer any advice on what to do when people chain themselves to private property in a manner that keeps the chains from being cut.

The 9th Circuit has no problem with using pepper spray on peaceful protesters, even minor children, when it’s other protests. There are only certain kinds of protests that the 9th Circuit approves, they are in charge of rewriting the First Amendment for the western states, so that the First Amendment has exemptions based on what the message is.

The county is trodding on a thin line when violence is used against people using their right to express their opinion. I thought that was the first amendment to your country´s constitution.
Am i wrong?

I see in this video a RIOT. ( I graduated from college in Claremont, CA, thankfully, we never had those.) Therefore, the police were threatened physically and had every right, in my opinion, to pepper spray those “peaceful activists”, OMG!!!! If you do not agree, why don’t you take a look again and open your eyes…you idiot! By the way, is anyone seriously interested in applying to that school to study when they have students who are dumb enough to RIOT against the police? Like it is acceptable to block the police? This is ridiculous! Playing in the campus traffic? C’mon? What will they do to attract attention , next? I hope I don’t hear anything like this happening again on any campus anywhere in our country…it is a travesty and an embarrassment. I am ashamed of only the students.

From Wat Tyler’s comment: “Nobody in the crowd did anything but place their bodies peacefully in the way to prevent arbitrary arrests of three to four students.”

It’s not up to the students to resort to self-help and decide whether or not the arrests were arbitrary. Nor was it up to them at that point to try and prevent the arrests. If they were in the way of people getting arrested, then the police had every right to get them out of the way.

Are you comparing the people who are the object of this protest to Hitler?

At the moment 2011 we still have freedom of speech in Sweden.

But excess violence against people sitting down I have a hard time to accept. The video you mention above clearly shows that the police could have stepped over the sitting protesters in the same manner the first police officer did. No one was hindering him from getting out of the circle.

Violence is used in many places over the world and often one should question the use of it. At least in a democratic society (regardless whether it is statesmen/women or civilians using it)

If the Students “trapped” the police and that gave them the right to use pepper spray because they were like dogs backed into a corner…..why are police in front and behind the students while they are being sprayed?

The point of a demonstration is to raise awareness of situation. When there is an over-reaction by authorities that gets media attention, the protest has been successful. Mahatma Gandhi knew that very well. Non-violence is often one-way, and non-violent protest carries with it the real risk of getting clobbered.

This is clearly a case of the police impeding the rights of people to break laws and ordinances with impunity! Down with the police! How dare they enforce laws and rules! That’s just obscene!

/sarcasm

Those protesters were sitting and blocking a through way. They ignored an order to leave. Obviously asking them to leave wasn’t working so, what were the police supposed to do? Keep asking until they were blue in the face? No, they clear the obstruction with as little injury as possible.

And before anyone says “Yeah, no injuries, these people had to be treated at the hospital for their injuries!!!” Obviously you don’t fully understand pepper spray. It’s a chemical. It can be neutralized with other chemicals. They have these chemicals at hospitals. It’s not like these people were permanently blinded or have their skin sloughing off. EMT/hospital treatments for pepper spray are par for the course.

Thanks for the post, Angus – will link to your site from mine.
Some of the respondents to your post are rightly appalled at the methods used by the police in the US to break up largely peaceful protest. But there’s also a sense of shock and surprise.
Of course, this is without the benefit of hindsight. History shows that when capital is threatened by civil protest or industrial action it will resort to violence to put it down. We need only look back to the US in the 1960s and 70s, specifically the policing of civil rights and anti-Vietnam war protests, including the shooting dead of 4 student protestors at Kent State University, 4 May 1970. With such precedents in mind, it’s really no surprise at all to witness some of the heavy handed tactics deployed by US police forces today when confronted by growing dissatisfaction and protest.
Other respondents to your post have expressed dismay with mainstream media coverage – or non-coverage as it might be described. Maybe that’s because the media are too busy at the moment reporting those awful police tactics being used against protestors in Cairo and Damascus to notice what’s going on in their own country? It’s difficult not to draw comparisons!

Another good reason why sites like yours are so important. Somebody’s got to bear witness.

Without knowing the specific circumstances, it seems very hard to tell who was out of line. It’s easy to go against the University police because of the pepper spray. Encircling the police can lead to a very uncomfortable situation. I just think that there’s just not enough info to tell. Still an unfortunate situation for everyone involved.

Reply to post by @Common Sense: “…why are police in front and behind the students while they are being sprayed?”

Based on various accounts of the story that I’ve read, the cops inside the circle had one or more protestors that they had arrested and the students formed a circle (facing outward) around them and said “We’ll let you go when you let them go”. The cop doing the pepper-spraying was outside the circle, while the cops with the arrestees were inside of it.

Those “mean” cops have families they wnat to go home to. They are our friends – just wait until YOU need them, *vola*, you are thier best of buds. Car accident which is not your fault. Flat tire on a very busy freeway, or for that matter, wee hours of the moring with a flat tire.

They are asked to go into situations they would rather not go into, but they do. It is called courage. Would you go into a 200-300 people gathering to try to break it up to enforce local codes? Well, would you? They did and they were prepared for the worse – remember they do want to see their kids tonight.

It is so easy to deonize some one be calling them the “establisment”, “the cops”, when in reality, they are our neighbors, softball coaches, in other words, our friends.

I am a 60 year old Canadian citizen, who escaped from Hungary in 1956, watching these OWS protests and the reaction of the authorities to those protests. Without getting into the right and wrong of it, I would like to take this opportunity to point out one simple fact to those authorities. Once a population is angered enough, you cannot stop that particular ball. Push comes to shove, how long do the authorities think it will take for the masses to start fighting back? How long before violence is met with violence? How long before the military starts deserting en-mass to the activists side? How long before the establishment is overthrown with violence and bloodshed? How long before those that aided and abetted the violence against the population are rounded up and executed out of hand? This has happened around the world time after time and yet those in power will not learn from history. Good God people, your own damn country was founded because the citizens had had enough of the control imposed by great Britain. For a lesson in history, look at Budapest in 1956. It was the students who started the revolution followed with the support of the trades and the outcome was thousands dead on both sides, Yes, the Commies retook the country, but only temporarily. Hungary is now a member of the EU and a contributing member of NATO. So think about it and figure out who won in the end. Thank you for listening.

“Playing in the campus traffic? C’mon? What will they do to attract attention, next?” UC Davis is a public university. The quad, which is where the students were protesting, is not a road and so students were not blocking any sort of traffic besides pedestrian (or illegal bike) traffic.

“By the way, is anyone seriously interested in applying to that school to study when they have students who are dumb enough to RIOT against the police?” It is entirely uncalled for to insult a student population that is 32,000 individuals strong. Moreover, US News and World Report has ranked UC Davis as 9th in the nation among public universities. The education we receive at this university and the required academic standing required to attend this university precludes “students who are dumb.”

“I hope I don’t hear anything like this happening again on any campus anywhere in our country…it is a travesty and an embarrassment. I am ashamed of only the students.” Given that the protests occurred partially in response to conclusions of the demonstrations at UC Berkley the week before, as well as the level of civil unrest in our country at the moment, I find it highly unlikely that this will not happen again.

Lastly, I would like to say, as other have said before, that on the whole, this is a very complicated issue. The fault does not lie with a single person. As an institution, we have many issues relating to protocol and communication that need to be addressed. Subsequently, as a university, we need to create a place for serious discussion of the events to ensure that this never happens again. These forums are scheduled to begin in the next few days, continuing on for many months or even years. As a country we needs to create a forum for dialogue where people can eloquently express their thoughts and ideas, free from ad hominem verbal sparing and rhetoric.

@ Pat McSwain, you are missinformed.
You have full rights to voice your hatred against irish. However you are not allowed to incite violence against irish people or defame them. Do you understand the difference?

Being logical, acting within reason is seldom seen when there is a crowd of people responding with a Mob mentality. Fear and astonishment is seen in the students as they react to the police. This fear feeds the mob reactions. The police are most likely responding to their orders, and are also most likely experiencing fear. It is not good to be at any events that involve huge crowds experiencing fear.

I remember being in a huge crowd at Hyde Park, London, at the time Prince Charles and Diana were about to be married. Some crazy nut, walked through the crowd barking and growling like a dog, causing people to rush pushing forward onto others, to clear the way for the man acting as a dog. I made it a point to push myself through the crowd, going to the outer part of the crowd, not liking this experience one bit.
If a group has a common focus, one that has them protesting in peace, such as this UC Davis student crowd, then that is to be applauded. It is indeed an awful thing, to have students realize that there is possibly a 81% increase of tuition coming soon.

One may want to review how Mahatma Gandhi successfully led his demonstrators to achieve what he did. These young people are revealing the foibles of today’s society. It is not going to be easy coming to a resolution for our American society. These issues are so much more complicated now, and are so much bigger than our nation can deal with. This, discontent is now effecting the whole globe. We must step out of the box, to look at the total picture now. It is all about limited resources and a growing population of human beings. I recommend viewing the movie, Inside Job.

I have for years. been so impressed with the quality of young people who have attended this university. This campus has always had the most wholesome, intelligent young people as students attending UC Davis. The Cream of the Crop, I’d say. I am sorry that the University must now deal with such negative publicity. Hopefully lessons will be learned as this will now be reviewed with good intentions and positive outcomes.

Mean while, if people can practice being more humane towards each other, expressing their words with loving thoughts and good will towards each other, this would serve to be a huge step forward for all of man kind. Leave those batons behind. These students are our unarmed children. These children live in an uncertain world. The actions of these police are not appropriate and do not show the world, we care about our children and their future.

1st Pepper Spray, then release the hounds, finish with a good clubbing.
These students were wrong for not moving. They all should be dropped from school and not eligible for any federal dollars for the rest of their life.
It is your responsibility to manage your debt. Learn a skill that is useful in finding a job.
Officer Pike is not the evil one here, it is the parents of the students that failed to teach their kid about the real world.

You managed to throw away your career and leave yourself wide open to a civil lawsuit which will change your life for the worse.

When you’re unemployed and find your resume dumped in the circular file of everywhere you apply because nobody wants a loose canon rattling around, I hope that you reflect upon your attitude and immature lack of self control.

I look forward to seeing reports on the news of how low a man can plummet in America, cause you’re headed straight to the bottom.

You will undoubtedly the truth of Anatole France’s statement that: “The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.”

This behavior was outlawed by the 9th Circuit United States Court of Appeal in the Humboldt student sit-in case. It is sickening that officers, so many years later, would commit such an over battery. I am a civil rights attorney. I would march to the United States District Court with my sec. 1983 lawsuit in hand today if I could.

Mary, that would be a good choice. While the protesters got $1 each, IIRC, the lawyers made millions.

No matter what business you are in, that’s an excellent mark-up, and why attorneys today are so highly respected.

In any case, a main point of the Humboldt case was that the officers could have safely cut through the steel restraints with a Makita grinder with no injuries to either party.

Obviously no attorney or judge in that case has ever used a handheld grinder. I use one all the time. The metal gets glowing red hot, and it shoots a shower of high temperature sparks more than 6 feet. It will often “kick-back” sharply if the metal isn’t held securely in a vice or sturdy restraint. It’s really stupid to use it near other humans. And everybody must wear eye protection. So if the protesters would not wear eye protection, then they could sue for not following the mfr safety guidelines.

One of the major faults in today’s legal system is the lack of a rounded education so they can develop a high quality BS detector. The judges were gullible, and too lazy to go in their garage and give it a try on a loose piece of steel.

Pat: In your opinion lawyers are scum, judges are gullible, etc… I understand your jealousy and ignorance, given that the length and breadth of education is community college. I see and hear people like you from time to time – poorly educated but complete “know it alls”. But God bless you and your ignorance because without people like you, the rest of us wouldn’t have “wemployees.”

If the area was declared an unlawful assembly, then those who chose to remain were committing a crime-violation of 409 PC.
When told to leave by officers, and they chose to ignore, that’s a crime-violation of 148(a)(1) PC.
Officers have probable cause to arrest for a crime. The law allows the use of force to effect an arrest and to overcome resistance-per 835a PC.
Force must be reasonable per Graham vs. Connor, a US Supreme court decision.
The purpose of sitting and linking arms is to resist.
The application of OC is reasonable to overcome resistance. Officers should not have to be injured from pulling people apart.

Jon: Perhaps it hasn’t been said enough. The 9th Circu9t has already determined that use of pepper spray on peaceful protesters is unreasonable. Your assessment doesn’t it make it any more reasonable. The law is the law.

I do support peoples right to peacefully assemble and express their opinions. However, I hold no grudge to the officers doing their job. If we are to hold the students to the same scrutiny as the police, then it can be said that those students were in violation of UC Davis Student Responsibilities section 102.6, 102.13, 102.14, 102.15, and 102.16 as determined by the Chanchellor. As well as those who can be identified as shouting at the police in such a manner as it occurred under 102.24

If it wasn’t so ludicrous, it would be almost comical to see all the right-wing ideologues posting in support of the cops. Some people cannot even believe their own eyes they are so blinded by their ideology.

Fortunately, they are in the minority because most people trust their own eyes. They don’t need right-wing spin doctors to tell them what they saw. They don’t try to deny the truth or to hide behind ideology. And because that’s the case, the overwhelming majority of people who have seen the videos already know what happened and they do not approve of what the cops did.

Will they act on it? Who knows. But they will remember it and all the losers in the world railing against the students here won’t change what they know to be true.

In the end, whether they act or not, most people understand what is right and wrong and most people know this was wrong. So, to all the right-wingers on here, keep posting your ludicrous nonsense. It must be hard to realize you’ve lost the battle of public opinion. But you have and you only disgrace yourself further by trying to spin it in a way that everyone can see is patently false.

How many of the protesters were ACTUAL students attending UCD? (I know a student there, he said most were in fact NOT students)

If they WERE students, why weren’t they doing homework or studying?

Why would one PAY for college and CHOOSE to go and protest when there is always a distinct possibility of being harmed in some way? This isn’t a very responsible way to use your money, or money GIVEN to you to attend school, is it?

How many years have these students been paying taxes, voting
and working a career? How is it they think they have earned the right to protest in this manner, causing disruptions at school for the other students that WANT to get an education?

“The rifle is a weapon. Let there be no mistake about that. It is a tool of power, and thus dependent completely upon the moral stature of its user. It is equally useful in securing meat for the table, destroying group enemies on the battlefield, and resisting tyranny. In fact, it is the only means of resisting tyranny, since a citizenry armed with rifles simply cannot be tyrannized.”
“The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles.”
—Jeff Cooper, The Art of the Rifle

There is NO excuse for their treatment, bottom line, regardless of who they were, how much tax they pay etc. They were protesting non-violently, and were not treated in kind.

And for the record, how many people do you know get a grounded career without college or university? How much CAN they pay in tax while on minimum wage? What a complete load of tripe you manage to pull out of your backside, it sounds like a typical deflection excuse to me.

I don’t think #3 is right. The video shows that the police had a police car so they could have all gotten out but they couldn’t get the car out. If the protestors weren’t trying to block the police then why were they seated in a line across the pavement with arms locked?

this whole event is biased on BOTH side. no i do not support using pepper spray on students, nor do i support the students that were pepper sprayed.

the above list needs to be corrected to show unbiased facts as follows:

1. students were resisting arrest by pulling away the ones being arrested.
2. pepper spray was used to disperse mob to allow the arrested individual be taken away
3. students were blocking the police from leaving
4. as shown in the second video linked above:

students were aware and warned several minutes prior to being sprayed, and agreed to being sprayed for not following police orders
the pepper spray was raised high for everyone to see.

do not host a protest if you cant get everyone on the same page to be REALLY non-violent and non-resisting

No matter what the police apologists say, the police are NOT tasked with controlling the public – they are tasked with arresting criminals – criminals are rapists, thieves and murderers, not students engaged in peaceful protest. The police are paid by the people, but controlled by the corporate elite. They have become militarized and are more akin to the Gestapo than to Andy of Mayberry.

Great info on this incident, I’ll continue to follow your blog. It’s sad to see these young people hosed down with pepper spray during a peaceful protest when we have Westboro Baptist church representatives yelling hatred at people’s funerals.
BTW, I’m from a military family and my husband will tell you he serves so that people (ALL people) retain the right to speak their mind in this country, as well as other countries striving for democracy. Sadly, the ideals our forefathers worked for in the early parts of U.S. history are lost when atrocities like this occur. Lets hope the judicial system still works properly…

[…] Ten Things You Should Know About Friday’s UC Davis Police Violence – Apparently, the police felt threatened by peaceful protesters just sitting on the ground. Maybe it's time for our police to get better training? […]

For the trolls, the imbeciles, and the bigots who have somehow managed to completely misinterpret an event they never actually witnessed I will try to condense my earlier report into something a little clearer for you.

I saw the whole thing, from start to finish. I saw a group of heavily armed police in riot gear arrive, under instructions from the university chancellor, to remove a small group of peaceful student protesters who had set up camp of seven tents on a tiny section of a wide open space on the campus of a public university. She ordered this on spurious health and safety grounds, a rationale so laughable that very quickly she changed her story and introduced instead a bizarre tale of non-UCD agitators infiltrating the camp. Again, this is ridiculous. I know many of the protesters personally and all are either current UCD students, instructors, or alumni.

The police moved in violently from the outset and to everybody who was present it was clear that they had arrived specifically to intimidate with force. Whether they were right or not to arrest the protesters for obstructing a piece of grass on a huge expanse of grass is actually not even an issue. Because a university is by its very nature a forum for the peaceful and respectful exchange of ideas – and the UCD quad itself was designed with that very principle in mind – the police simply should never have been on campus in the first place, and they most certainly should not have been dressed in paramilitary battle gear. But above all of this they absolutely should not have assaulted the students with a military grade chemical agent at point blank range.

Ultimately, this was a political action by the chancellor that mirrors the actions of other UC chancellors in the past two weeks in seeking to violently silence dissent as UC faculty, staff and students mobilize to defend our public university against privatization moves initiated by the plutocracy that is the UC Board of Regents. As Zach Taylor notes earlier, far too many people commenting here are already so lost in their bigotry, myopia and ill-informed opinions that they are unable to see what is clearly apparent in the numerous videos of the events that occurred. In fact there is no mystery, nothing equivocal, no hidden backstory. It really is as simple as it appears. And that is why today the UCD general assembly of 5,000 students, staff, faculty, alumni, parents, and local citizens met on that very same quad and voted with a majority of 95% to hold a general strike next week to demand immediate reforms and changes to the way the university is governed and policed.

These students need to find something better to do with their time. They were their to disrupt. Their tent cities cost thousands of dollars, 1) Police security. 2) Repair to the grass. 3). Removal of trash. 4) Porta Poties, 5) Etc.
The police are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. Maby the School Administration should go out thier with all these disadents who feel we owe them everything and let them take care of the crowds. They were conducting an illegal assembly, no matter how you want to sugar coat it. They were given three 1/2 minutes to move or they would be pepper sprayed. They got exactly what they wanted. To be sprayed and to cause an incident. Now you have two police that are suspended for doing their job. You must be responsible for you actions. No oney owes these students anything other than a college campus where they can EARN a degree. GET real, they were engaged in unlawful activity.

“The students are there to protest against tuition hikes” – heard about something called inflation? Your parents paid $1 to fill a tank, and I dont hear you complaining about the 200% increase in gas prices. or the rents/ food prices… then why complain about tuition fees? Sure your protest until then was not unnoted, so the authorities meeting up will keep the students in mind as they meet to discuss the tuition hikes. Would you rather they close UC Davis because of no money to run it?

“they are given permission to stay until 3pm” – The chancellor clearly gave them permission to stay and clear out by 3, and by 3:30 pm they are still there. So clearly, they are violating the instruction to clear out.

“They are arresting students who are not clearing the ground” – By 3:30pm, the police are pulling up students who are still protesting because – they are against the rule that says no protests after 3pm… and then, this line forms, stopping them from their protests. Whatever the health and safety reasons are, you dont say they dont apply to you. They dont need to give you a long drawn explanation for everything. With tents set up and people living outside, there might be people falling sick, and then blame the university ? Or there are no sanitary conditions? Or if you were cooking on a barbecue grill to make food, there might be a fire hazard. Who knows what is the risk the department thought about… Your prerogatve is to comply not question. If you go a theme park, you expect the rides to be safe and complaint, what if the theme park said, nah, there is no problem with safety. We will continue with these rides anyway. You dont question.. Simple.

“The students sitting on the floor are blocking the police and their path” – The police can definitely step across over the sitting members but its not just the cops that have to step forth. THey have arrested protestors they need to get to the police cars, they cant expect them to balance over the sitting protesters, and risk hurting themselves. So it is a risk of safety for both the cops ((If they tripped over the protestors) and the arrested students.

“They are asked to get up and refuse to comply, cop tries lifting the girl up without success” – The cop speaks to the young man and he says you are shooting us for sitting here… no he isnt.. he is shooting you all because you are blocking his way and the arrested members… He needs to get you out of the way so he can do his work… The students are not supposed to be there in that field after 3pm… And these students on the floor are now in violation of that.
The cop tries to lift the girl, but clearly she feels all the solidarity around herself, and says, I am valiant and brave, let me face the music, knowing very well that pepper spray is coming. So they are breaking rule of being there after 3 pm, AND they are blocking the way after a direct order from the police. THey are breaking 2 rules

“The cop has to do what he has to do to get out of there with his arrested members ” – he spoke to them, asked them to move, he tried lifting them up but they hold on tighter and clearly prepare for the worst with hats and scarves around, so they are expecting the spray, so he gives it to them, and clearly after that, they disperse, the cops spray enough to disable their links, get them off their path, and since they disobeyed orders, arrested them as well…Maybe if he sprayed from a distance, it wouldnt have disabled them enough and they would have still held on?

The cop is forcing that student to lie down because he is resisting arrest. Clearly, the students provoked the cops to use the spray and expected it… And they got it… Now why are you surprised they did it?

Sure, when you see it in the headlines – cops spray ‘peaceful’ student protestors, it sounds like they are the villains, but on closer inspection, the students disobey plenty of directives or whatever instructions before being detained…

And the chancellor called the cops in because the students are not clearing by 3pm, and force is the only way to get them off the field, because they are not listening to the authorities when told to…. Why should she resign if students refuse to listen to the law?

These STUDENTS should stop leaching off their parents, the US government who is providing tuition and loans that never get payed back (by us tax payers) and get a life and a job. It is time they do something worthwhile for this Great Counrty, not try and destroy it, with their lack of values and motivation to do something worthwhile.

Hudffintgon’s only “common sense” has to do with the “collective” which has to do with Communism and ANY of its offshoots, which would like you to no longer be individuals, but part the common good, where privacy and free thinking dies. Occupiers work for the Communists, and some do not know it.
This “blog” with its star reference in its head, is certainly Communist based. It can only mean propaganda and deception.
Research the groups linked to this blogger in the left column (or should I say, “fifth column” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_column.
They do not hide anymore, but have confidence in your ignorance of history.

[…] has some of the best updates on this developing situation, including an excellent post, Ten Things You Should Know About Friday’s UC Davis Police Violence. My favorite is #5: “University of California Police are not authorized to use pepper spray […]

Would you rather they used physical force for resisting?
“Chemical agents are weapons used to minimize the potential for injury to officers, offenders, or other persons. They should only be used in situations where such force reasonably appears justified and necessary.”

It is interesting “chemical weapons” are used for a botanical spray with no additives. But these people were breaking the law and were adequately warned.

The use of force policy quoted in the article refers to physical force, which is distinct from chemical force in most departmental policies I’ve read (and I’ve read quite a few in researching this incident).

They were blocking the pathway for the officers to carry people through who were being arrested. People stand a good chance of being INJURED if they have to be carried over someone else while being arrested. Pepper spray hurts and can cause injury, but it stands a lower chance of causing injury than does carrying a person who has been arrested over a line of protesters.

Also, the person protesting has a choice – they can move or be pepper sprayed. The person being arrested has no choice but to be arrested. Why should they be exposed to additional risk? Why should the cop?

At some point the protesters bear responsibility. So far, a great many people have failed to see that.

I would have hoped that people on a site called “Student Activism” would be a bit more educated and cultured than what I am finding here. I, and others, have repeatedly cited the Humboldt case where the 9th Circuit held pepper spraying non-violent protesters is a violation of 42 U.S.C. sec. 1983. Yet, remarkably, many posters here avow breaking the law, and backing the cops who broke the law.

Regardless of the legality, regardless of whether the force was inherently excessive, the success of the strategy used by the police and UCD authorities appears to depend on the students being intimidated. The thinking among the response strategists appears to be “If we rough ‘em up a bit they’ll just all go home and be too afraid to come back out.” If this is the case, then the greatest failing is certainly not Pike’s.

As for the demand for financial “fairness”, I would say this demand does indeed contradict what for me is the cornerstone of American values, that each and every citizen has an equal *opportunity*, what we sometimes call the American Dream. For this to hold true for us, there needs to be evidence and examples that elevating your own condition is possible and that the playing field is reasonably fair. The examples of Wall Street-ers getting obscenely rich while destroying opportunity for a large portion of the rest of us gives contrary evidence.

There will always be a mob waiting. If the 1% are wise they’ll work hard to address the current outcry in a very visible and rational way. They will voluntarily fund projects that work toward restoring the credibility of the American Dream.

Quote: ” “The students sitting on the floor are blocking the police and their path” – The police can definitely step across over the sitting members but its not just the cops that have to step forth. THey have arrested protestors they need to get to the police cars, they cant expect them to balance over the sitting protesters, and risk hurting themselves. So it is a risk of safety for both the cops ((If they tripped over the protestors) and the arrested students.”

Someone might have tripped, so they sprayed them at close range with military-grade chemical weapons? Yeah, that sounds really reasonable.

In a free society, such as ours is supposed to be; every person has the right AND DUTY to question the actions and motivations of all holders of the public trust: Politicians, Policemen, Soldiers Sailors and Airmen, Firefighters, and civil servants of every kind are PUBLIC employees. That means they work for us; you and me, their actions are taken in our names and by the authority that we the sovereign people entrust to them.

As for the claims that either the protestors or the crowd were anything but peaceful: The crowd outnumbered the police by at least 20-30 to 1 If they had been anything BUT non-violent, even AFTER the police began assaulting the protestors, they would have torn them apart. And before anyone tries to use that as justification for the officers actions consider that their initiating violence against the protestors greatly INCREASED the likelihood of a violent response from the crowd and was therefore one of the WORST POSSIBLE DECISIONS from the standpoint of officer safety!

They hear what they want to hear. Instead, they use “collective” thinking, which is far from free.
I hope occupiers will live long enough to see their stupidity …but at this rate, they cannot foresee their own eventual destruction by hostile forces leading them overboard.

The Chancellor has now apologized to the students for what her cops did. Granted she wants to save her job; but unlike a lot of folks posting on here, she at least has enough common sense to know a lost cause when she sees one.

The head of the campus police who made the unbelievable claim that the cops were threatened has been placed on administrative leave for uttering such an absurdity. A scapegoat? Sure, but hardly an undeserving one.

The head of the U.C. system has made it dear that this kind of thuggery will not be tolerated.

To those still defending the cops, what part of this is so hard to grasp? You can keep repeating your ridiculous arguments over and over, but no one with a lick of common sense believes you. Maybe it makes you feel good inside to say stuff that’s really inane, but you stand a much better chance fighting other battles like how evolution is nonsense and climate change isn’t really happening.

Universities are where people should be allowed protest and share their opinions, and make a point. I find this protest different than the ones that are protesting in city streets. These are students on a university campus.

What took place showed the ignorance of those in uniform….:( The crowd showed no sign of violence…no warnings given…No Bullhorn seen…yet they made sure they were covered when violating citizens rights by pepper spray…they did look like cowards ensuring their “previous faces” were covered….are the campus police not supposed to protect????? Why have they not issued a public apology???? Why has the offender not been punished??? What about tolerance???? Only one can hope that those attacked are ok. As a mother, I would want his head on a platter if he would have hurt mine!!! I also see no other uniformed one followed his ignorance..He should not let his fear guide his bitter actions…. To Protect and Serve??? Really?????

Point by point:
1. First, this is the first I have heard of the use of batons. I have seen no other reports of the use of batons. This is not to say whether batons would or would not have been reasonable. Second, non-violence was not the issue. No one is arguing that the protesters were violent. The issue is that they were in violation of the law.

2.There are actually conflicting reports. However, whether the encampment was struck before or after the incident has little bearing on the fact that the students who had erected the tents were repeatedly ordered to disburse and chose not to.

3. I would agree that the movement of the officers was largely unrestricted by the seated group. I would argue that the contention that the remaining group was peacefully seated. The video clearly shows the majority of the group gathered around the officers, standing. Depending on which point you are speaking of in the video, the crowd is yelling at the officers and pressing in. You imply that the situation was controlled and non-threatening. However, there are innumerable examples of how quickly a crowd can turn violent, even when the majority has peaceful intentions. The study of crowd mentality and how people act when part of a crowd, regardless of how they would act as individuals, calls your statement into question. To say that the officer could predict the future and how the crowd would react is unrealistic.

Their freedom of movement (or lack thereof) isn’t really the issue. The issue was, for the seated arrestees, that they had broken the law and were passively resisting arrest. For the standing crowd, which were not under arrest and not OC’d, they presented a evolving danger to the police action at the center. I would also note that the larger group was the true threat. Although they were trying to help, they actually made the situation more volatile, threatening, and forced officers’ actions.

4. Again, these statements deny the very nature of a crowd. The fact that Lt.Pike was trying to reason with a student goes to show the police effort to resolve the situation peacefully and without force. However, Chief Spicuzza’s comments, if not taken out of context, sound questionable. However, her comments come after the incident at which, to the best of my knowledge, she was not present. Given recent events in Oakland and Cal, I would question why she was not present. UC Davis is not so large, I imagine, that she had such pressing matters to attend to and was unable to be present.

5. This mischaracterizes the orders. Given that we are only discussing one passage, taken out of context, it still appears this supports the use of OC. Since there was a large, hostile crowd present, removing the arrestees without incident most certainly “minimize(ed) the potential for injury to officers, offenders, or other persons.” It appears to have reduced the risk of struggle and ensuing violence. Had this situation evolved in a negative manner, violence would have been almost certain. Such violence would have almost certainly resulted in multiple injuries. History has shown how quickly violence can break out, escalate, and injuries occur. Remember, the police can not predict the future. They have to consider the possible dangers to themselves as well as the protesters and crowd. Had the police used control holds, it is likely that one of the arrestees would have acted in such a way that would be construed as resistance (or actually resisted). Such resistance, whether real or perceived, would have called for greater force by the officer to gain control. This greater force, by its very nature, is more likely to cause permanent injury. As that struggle occurred, there would be the very real possibility that other arrestees or the crowd would intervene. This would reasonably cause the officers to fear for their lives, given that they were facing a crowd of several hundred or thousand people, and lead to certain permanent serious injuries. The use of pepper spray avoided this possibility and ensured that no one sustained any lasting injuries. It is important to note that no one suffered any injuries beyond temporary significant discomfort.

6. Again, the writer mischaracterizes the orders. The fact that the protesters were given written orders, verbal orders, and personal pleas (you stated that Lt. Pike had his hand on a protester’s shoulder while speaking to him), and still refused to comply, supports resistance to the lawful authority of the police. Force was authorized to, “ensure detention” and OC was authorized to “prevent injury” by preventing a physical struggle. Remember, the police had no way of knowing what was going to happen.

7. You previously admitted that Lt. Pike personally spoke to a student. Multiple new sources state, and the protesters themselves admit, they were given written notice and verbal instructions to move but refused. What is more peaceful than a request and direct order? The refusal by the protesters to comply with lawful orders necessitated the use of force. The police elected to use OC, apparently to prevent a physical struggle and ensuing riot.

8. Again, I did not see any use of batons nor have I read of any reports of baton use except in here. But that is not the issue. This statement appears simply false. It appeared to me that Lt. Pike ensured that all people subject to arrest were OC’d prior to ceasing. I did not see anyone chasing after anyone to OC them. I did not see anyone who was standing or in police custody get OC’d further. The OC was used to gain compliance and, once the arrestees were in custody, all accounts agree they were given medical attention to minimize their discomfort.

9. And neither do you see any officers strike them. The force used was instigated by the students, who refused to comply with lawful orders. PC 835a allows the police to use force to affect an arrest. Since the protesters refused to comply, force was necessary. Nothing about the application of force appeared gratuitous or retaliatory. On the contrary, the police appeared professional and dispassionate throughout the encounter. It is worth noting that the Ninth Circuit ruled in Forrester v. San Diego (25 F.3d 804), citing Graham v. Conner (490 U.S. at 396), that “Police officers, however, are not required to use the least intrusive degree of force possible… Whether officers hypothetically could have used less painful, less injurious, or more effective force in executing an arrest is simply not the issue.”

10. I have not seen any video, or head of any reports, of the crowd being pepper sprayed. That is simply not true. The crowd had several chants, almost all of which were hostile to the police. Please watch the videos again, you are just simply misinformed.

The fact that the police did not act on the crowd themselves speaks to the restraint of the police. They allowed the crowd to continue their speech, although hostile to the police, and simply arrested those who had originally broken the law.

It appears that you are confusing the UC Davis videos with other videos. This is easy to do since there have been incidents at OWS protests in Oakland, San Francisco, and Berkeley. The OWS protestors have frequently turned violent and incited police reactions. Not all of those police reactions have been as exemplary as those of the UC Davis police, this is admitted. However, it appears that OWS is using the radical tactic of provoking the police to action to gain the sympathy of the public. To cause an incident, then claim to be the victim, is unfair and dishonest. The OWS movement has valid points and concerns. To use dubious tactics undermines valid arguments. Presenting false information, partial truths, and outright lies, only discredits the movement. By doing this, you are playing into the hands of those you are struggling against. These statements serve to polarize the nation, prevent dialogue, and give control to the establishment which you claim to fight against.

What made this event possible is the increasing militarization of US-police forces in the last 10 years, which in turn was made possible by the pathocracy that exists in America since 9/11. Politicians need only bark “terrorism”, and the citizenry will gladly give up more civil rights, will fund the police with tasers, batons and machine guns, will be grateful to be spied upon by the NSA, will cheer if the government commits murder even on fellow citizens simply declared “suspected terrorist”, will be fine with being stripped naked by a body scanner and ogled by “security” guards if they fly from point A to point B.

A nation of cowards (not the UCDavis students, obviously, but the majority of citizens) are responsible for situations like these. But hey, these brave heroic officers are all keeping us “safe” from the Bad Terrorists(TM), right?!

To the student activists, shouldn’t you be doing your homework? What have you gained here? The news is about police and pepper spray, not you. Whatever your message or the reason your sitting in… is lost there.

* The students did encircle the cops and prevented them from leaving.
* The students disregarded a lawful order to move
* The student were warned that failure to comply would result in force being applied.
* They got what was promised and what they wanted – End of story

If the cops didn’t have pepper spray, they might have used tasers.
If the cops didn’t have tasers, they might have used clubs.
If the cops didn’t have tasers, they might have……

* The cops could easily step over the encirclement
* What law? Just because it’s a cop telling you to do something, doesn’t mean you’re legally obliged to do it.
* There is no call for force EVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES against a non-violent resistance
* You’re good and quick to decide who deserves what.

The weapons police are issued are meant for non-lethal suppression of violent criminals, or lethal suppression of armed and dangerous criminals. The police mandate is to serve and protect, not to punish and suppress. As a close relation of a police family myself, you cannot tell me that there is ANY reason to use force against a peaceful protest. EVEN IF the protesters say “sure, go ahead, use pepper spray on us”, it doesn’t mean that they DO. It’s just another way for the protesters to protest, and shows the true character of the police if they choose to go through with it.

When a protester is saying, “go ahead and attack us,” it’s not permission. It’s a dare. It’s “I dare you to do the wrong thing to us, because we WILL use it to bring you down.”

Only one thing you need to know about the actions of UC Berkeley Chancellor Birgeneau and UC Davis Chancellor. Both Birgeneau and UC Davis Chancellor used their campus police to brutalize their students.

Both Birgeneau and UC Davis Chancellor must quit or be fired for permitting the outrage on their watch.

UC Berkeley Chancellor Birgeneau runs his campus as a fifedom. Nobody’s perfect, but some higher education chancellors are much less perfect as stewards of public funds than others. University of California Berkeley Chancellor Birgeneau ($450,000 salary) has forgotten he is a steward of public money, not overseer of his own fiefdom.

UC Chancellor Birgeneau does not have a grip on financial realities. Trust the evidence.
Pays ex Michigan governor $300,000 for lectures
Tuition increases exceed national average rate of increase.
University accrues $150 million of inefficiencies over his 8 year reign
Recruits (using California tax $) foreign students who pay $50,600 and displace qualified Californians.
Spends $7,000,000 + for consultants to do the work of senior Cal. management.
(Prominent East Coast University accomplishes same 0 cost).
In procuring $3,000,000 consultants failed to receive proposals from other firms.
Latino enrollment drops out of state jump 2010(Krupnick Contra Costa Times).
Best in nation rank: # 70 Forbes.
Academic rank: QS academic falls below top ten.
Tuition to Return on Investment drops below top10.
Cal now is most expensive public university.
NCAA: absence senior management oversight, basketball program on probation.

It’s all shameful. There is no justification for such irregularities by a steward of the public trust. If UC chancellors don’t understand financial stewardship they have no business in a public office.

Chancellor Birgeneau’s self-indulgent practices continue onto violence against students protesting increases in tuition. University of California Board of Regents Chair Sherry Lansing must vigorously enforce oversight of Birgeneau. Only then will confidence of Alumni, donors, legislators, Californians return.

(My agenda is transparency. I have 35 years’ consulting experience; have taught at UC Berkeley, where I observed the culture & the way senior management works. No, I was not fired or downsized & have not solicited contracts from UC/Cal).

Tom, I’ve addressed the issue of the encircling multiple times, in this post and several others. Short version:

Nobody ever denied that the students encircled the officers. That’s always been obvious. What was in question was whether, as Chief Spicuzza said, the officers had “no way out” of the circle. Video clearly shows that claim to be a lie.

Could the officers have gotten the arrested students away without using pepper spray? I believe so, but because the officers made no attempt to do so, we’ll never know for sure. What we DO know, though, is that UC police procedures only allow for the use of chemical agents to reduce the risk of injury — not to facilitate arrest or crowd control.

In order to show that the use of pepper spray was appropriate, in other words, you have to show not merely that the police were being effectively interfered with, but that any course of action other than the pepper spraying posed a greater risk of injury than the spraying itself.

1. The students across the sidewalk locked arms. This is active resistance, not passive. Since it was active, this is resisting.
2. I’ll accept these facts.
3.I presume the officers were there to clear the public area. The line across the sidewalk was obstructing passage. If the officers would have moved forward, would they have parted?
4. I don’t see that Lt. Pike is concerned for his safety, but he is responsible for his officers. I did note behavior of officers upon their withdrawal that there was nervousness and fear. Pike seemed to keep them under control.
5.If it was the officers’ responsibility to clear the walk and arrest the students, then pepper spraying seems appropriate to me. If the students were unwilling to give up active resistance, then trying to physically to remove them most likely would have lead to injuries to both protesters and police officers. Physically separating students risked back and muscle injuries. Unless they had officers who bench-press over 400 lbs.
6.Irrelevant…students were sprayed during the arrest, not after it.
7. I noticed that too and have been trading emails with a journalist concerning his actions. It will be interesting to see if any explanation emerges. I can only guess that one valid rationale would be that he physical removal would be more dangerous than spraying.
8. Yes, he sprayed a second time. Why? unsure. For the most part, he avoided spraying students seating in the grass, and picked the weakest links first to arrest, which led to the breakup of the line. Perhaps a review of Use of Pepper Spray procedures would be helpful to clarify this matter.
9. Correct, but one arrestee physically resists by not cooperating with the cuffing. It would be negligent of the police to not to use procedures to guard against actions from supporters, activists and spectators, hence the presence in front of the spectators.
10. Correct again, Kudos to your commitment, but again the protesters used, “active resistance”, not passive.

I had the opportunity to be a, “patrol observer” in 1977 on a large research study which placed me in squad cars in a variety of situations. There were over 150 students who were part of this study in 3 cities. Most oThe f them changed their opinions and attitudes towards police after 3 months of the study. Some were part of the Berkley free-speech movement.

Occupy is heading towards the same path of the student protests of the 60’s, which was civil war between the working class and emerging educated class. This divide has widened, as evidenced that the poor’s chances of making it to the middle class diminishes with every plant closing. The student protests petered out when Nixon gave them deferments from the draft. As one former activist angrily countered when I confronted him with the truth, “Well they were losers anyway!”

Don’t let your movement go that route. Police generally come from today’s working class. Which means you have to make decisions that avoids confrontation and conflict with them.

@Angus: “Could the officers have gotten the arrested students away without using pepper spray? I believe so, but because the officers made no attempt to do so, we’ll never know for sure. ”

Do you have any suggestions as to how the officers should have gotten the arrested students out of the circle? Techniques like trying to “de-link” the human chain by force or picking the arrested students up and passing them over the protestors could have wound up injuring someone in a more permanent manner (compared to something temporary like pepper spray), potentially resulting in legal action against the school and/or campus police. Perhaps there should have been a stand-off (or sit-off, if you will), with the officers having to wait for days on end until the chain had a break in it?. Or perhaps the Davis PD should have deployed a helicopter to airlift the officers and arrestees out of the circle? Would you say that options such as these should have been tried out first before using pepper spray?

While what the students did was not violent, it was also not peaceful – it was passive-aggressive and had to be dealt with in some manner in order for the officers to be able to do their jobs. Kudos to you if you can think of a better (and realistic) way for the officers to have responded.

Campus UCPD report to chancellors and take direction from their chancellor. University of California campus chancellors vet their campus police protocols. Chancellors are knowledgeable that pepper spray and use of batons are included in their campus police protocols.

Chancellor Birgeneau’s campus police use baton jabs on his students. UC Berkeley Chancellor Birgeneau and UC Davis Chancellor are in dereliction of their duties.

UC Berkeley Chancellor Birgeneau and UC Davis Chancellor need to quit or be
fired for permitting the brutal outrages on students protesting tuition increases
and student debt

@Walt, Jr: Why were those students being arrested in the first place, while everyone else wasn’t, even though they were all in the same place protesting the same thing?

They were being made an example of, for “disrupting the peace” or whatever the ridiculous reason was for their arrest in the first place, the encirclement was to protest their unwarranted arrest.

What the police did, no matter the justification, was wrong. If you’ve got a weapon, and the authority to do so, it doesn’t mean you do. As I’ve already stated, police are issued weaponry as a LAST RESORT, not as an offensive option like soldiers. Police are still civilians, and are even, in fact, public servants, who answer to tax payers. Their job is to enforce the law, ensure the safety of the community from those who would break the law, and establish a general presence that ensures that the law breakers don’t want to break the law, and those that follow the law have nothing to fear.

Their job is not to judge and sentence the lawbreakers: that is up to a jury of peers and a judge, based on the testimony of police as a witness if present. Their job is not to be the law, or make law on the spot: there is nothing illegal about occupying a public space. Someone stated in a post somewhere that just because a student goes to a school doesn’t mean they get a say in how that school is run: this is a load of shit. What happens if people start claiming that just because you live in a country, that doesn’t mean you get to decide how it’s run? Those students had nothing to answer to the law for, and it was not up to the police to arrest students for laws they made up on the spot on those students’ own campus.

And above all else, were those police that thick that they couldn’t think of a solution to the issue without resorting to an incapacitating chemical weapon? I don’t care how “harmless” it is, I’ve been hit by pepper spray, and I can tell you it should never be anything more than a last resort against violent criminals, either unarmed or armed with non-ranged weaponry. Plus, it is most certainly a chemical weapon. Just like CS tear gas and VX nerve gas, except that it’s far less harmful. That doesn’t, however, mean it’s entirely harmless.

So, how many of that students actually threatened those police with any kind of harm? How paranoid and cowardly must those police be to think that sitting in a circle holding hands represents a threat to their safety on such a level that they have to systematically douse the group with a can of pepper spray the size of a football. And all the while, those students copped it, sat there, for the most part unmoving, not even raising their faces to the police let alone weapons or threats of violence in retaliation to what was, bottom line, a completely cowardly act of suppressive violence by people that are supposed to serve the public, not brutalise them.

Also, it’s not up to us, or anyone else, but the police themselves, to think of alternatives to violence when it’s not called for. That’s what they get paid to do, that’s part of their job description. This was most certainly a case of it not being called for, and it is their failure, nobody else’s, that they have acted this way.

[…] call by student and faculty for the university chancellor to step down. Here’s an account of why the protest took place in the first place. Read the original post. Tweet new TWTR.Widget({ version: 2, type: 'search', […]

Surrounding the police and refusing to move unless those arrested are released is unthreatening? These people knew what was coming the whole time with several warnings. Entrapping police officers goes beyond ‘protest’. Imagine the seriousness of the situation for the officers as students begin to crowd around them?

the media can’t even get the full story before misinforming the public.

when you say “let the arrested go and we will let you [the police] out”, that is a threat. Watch what really happened; did Pike really want to spray those protestors? I’m not saying I agree with the use of pepper spray without other trying other alternatives first, but portraying them as ruthless policemen is a bit untruthful

not the mention the protestors, as many college-age students, are children (as they called themselves in the video). Failing to realize there are real consequences for your actions reminds me of a little baby who doesn’t understand why he cant have another cookie from the cookie jar. Right, you were there to protest student debt at first, but by the end that didn’t get your pepper sprayed, it was you antagonizing the police and preventing them from doing their job. grow up.

and yes i am a student and i am in debt, but i work hard abiding by laws that keep our society together in order to get out of it. if you want to change a rule, go through the medium of democracy to do it.

Tom, the story about the police being surrounded was much ado about nothing. She didn’t say that their purpose was to surround them, just that it happened. Let’s see, police confronting students, think it may draw bysanders? Others who are involved? It happens. It happened at Kent State.

Nothing in the demeanor of Lt Pike nor his officers indicated that they believed themselves to be surrounded. The nervousness of some officers was evident after the pepper spraying.

I don’t know what the hell video the writer of this article was watching. He wrote, “formed a wide seated circle around the officers and arrestees.” But if you watch any of the videos that are all over youtube, it shows nothing but a tight circle preventing the police from crossing. I am all about being able to speak out for what is right, but this group did not handle anything correctly. With today’s social media and mass media, there are far too many resources to use rather than trying to get pushy with the police. The crowd chanted, “let the arrested go and we will let you [the police] out”…. How is that not threatening?!?! The police gave more than enough warnings too!! You really want to protest something worth while? Than I say you join the army, go help stop the slaughter of women and children by their own government in the middle east, instead of whining because your friend, who probably spent the previous nights in the drunk tank, is in jail again.

University of California chancellors are accountable for the actions of their campus police, That is one of the reasons they have HIGH salaries.
We must act now. Fire UC Davis Chancellor and UC Berkeley Chancellor Birgeneau,now.

The students were NOT IMPEDING on the officers. You can see that the officer who goes to spray them, just steps over them. OMG the police officer had to lift their legs to get out. All the officers had to do was step over them. If the students got bumped, they got bumped. It would be better than being pepper sprayed and bludgeoned. All of you saying they deserved it are as much responsible and pathetic as those officers. It is a public university and the students pay to be there. It is more their campus than the police’s. It’s scary, as a college student myself, that people; outsiders, police, and university officials, would accept such behavior. We aren’t kids, we are adults who aren’t afraid of the government and the older generations to speak up for what is right. But we do so peacefully, while everyone revolts in violence. None of what you have said explain the incident at UC Davis or UC Berkeley. Faculty were beaten and arrested for caring about the injured students. How is any of this acceptable?

That egress was possible in no way indicates that the students serve as an impediment to the officers. If they cannot easily carry the arrestee out safely (something they cannot do while surrounded as they were), their egress is impeded.

[…] Ten Things You Should Know About Friday’s UC Davis Police Violence « Student Activism This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. « 99anon: veshecco: I’d say read this. The memo makes references to everyone, not just Occupy supporters. Listen to how the folks from this firm talk about you. And realize how much our perceptions of each other need to change. The full memo. Agreed- a must-read. Next Post » […]

[…] believe the students should have been pepper sprayed. Based on some reports, the act of using pepper spray violated university policy and (at least) two officers involved have been placed on administrative leave. Personally, I […]